RUGBY FOOTBALL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18396, 14 May 1934, Page 4

RUGBY FOOTBALL

SATURDAY’S LOCAL GAMES CELTS AND H. 5.0.8. WIN GOOD SENIOR FIXTURES Tlio senior matches played at the Oval on Saturday, under the aegis of the Poverty Bay Rugby Union, were both’ of a good standard, and cacn had its strong following among the 'spectators. The first appearance of the Celtic team in tlio competition was the major attraction, and the milliner in which the SpiUnite Cup winners overran 1 lie Y.M.P. seniors was an eyeopener. In the other senior game, H. 5.0.8. beat Old Boys, by it narrow margin, after a tussle in which the balance of the luck lay with the winners. In the junior and third-grade competitions, there were some good matches. Results of all matches played on Saturday wore as under: —- Seniors. —Celtic 22, -beat Y.M.P. nil; H. 5.0.8. 11, beat Old Boys S. Juniors.—Marist 12, boat High School nil; Celtic and H. 5.0.8. drew, Sail. Thirds.—H.S.O.B. 11, beat Celtic nil; .Marist (3, beat Old Boys 3. CELTIC FAST AND SOLID BACKING UP BEATS Y.M.P. With every man on the side fit and able to kep on the ball throughout the game, Celtic had an initial advantage over Y.M.P., in the senior match played on the grandstand ground, and they exploited the advantage fully, winning by 22 'ppints to nil. The Maoris have sti]l to 'achieve real condition, and though they kept Celtic busy for the greater part of'the time in Saturday’s match, they were repeatedly beaten because their opponents had two men available for every one of Y.M.P’s, in the critical stages of the match. It was the capacity of the Celts to back each other up in attack, and the speed they were able to maintain, that spelt defeat for Y.M.P., and truly the disd;iy given by the winning side was ;ii'. impressive one in both respects. Play was its fast in the first half of this match ;is in the majority of representative games seen in Gisborne. On their toes from the start, Celtic set out to bustle their opponents, and it was not long before their policy bore fruit. The Maoris battled along in good style, but they were just shaded in most phases of the game, and the lesson of eouditidn ■ was driven home time and again. 11 - was extremely, unfortunate for Y.M.P. that Kaua, their star player and tactician, should have been off the field in the first 1(1 minutes of play, following upon an ankle wrench which he suffered in kicking off, for,by the time he was able to take the field again his team was in arrears, and slightly shaken, lie did good work in pulling the side together, but ho whs handicapped in his own play by his injury, and showed little of the form that made him stand out in the first match or the season against OUT Boys. . i //■ BEST OF TTIEI PLAYERS The players on the winning side who made the best impression wore I’. McKinley, Milligan, Carrington, and Rodgers among the forwards, and Aircy, Hale, W. McKinley and G. Ilcwson among the backs. The side ns a whole was good, however, and others immcntioncd above played well at times, showing real possibilities. In the Y.M.P. team, the reappearance of T. Dennis gave adil!*fl weight to the forwards, and though the big lock is a Icing way frqm fit, he gave his pack a big,lift. Baity, B. Rogers, Horsfall and BArney .were all fairly effective, and did good work in the loose scrums particularly; while Awatere, L. McKinley, Kaua and K. Rogers were the most consistent of the back division. Y.M.P. had a stroke of bad luck on the kick-off, for Kaua. the leader of the team, injured his ankle in kicking the ball and bad to be carried off the field. He came hack a few minutes later, but in the interval the Maoris had been pushed back out of the Celtic territory, where they had appeared to be troubling their opponents a bit; and the Celts, pushing their recovery, swept up-field with great impetus. A Maori back gathered the ball off the ground, but was over-run by the Celt forwards, and gave a wild pass, which P. McKinley accepted, sending Cater away in full stride for the goal-line. Cater was over untouched, and Milligan bad no trouble in converting it.—-Celtic 5, Y.M.P. nil. A' minute or two later Celtic added further to their lead, when Carrington took a penalty kick from near (lie midfield line and goaled it nicely.—Celtic 8, Y.M.P. nil. MAORIS NEAR- SCORING There was no real sting in the play of the Maori team at this stage, though individuals were playing well. Their left winger came very close to scoring when he followed up a long line kick, bustled the Celtic, fullback, and bad a chance in the corner. .Carrington and Hale got back in time to stop him, however. and a scrum followed, from which the Celts won their way upfield again. There was a loose scrum shortly after on the Maori 25yds. line, from which Hale got a chance to dribble away, beating the Maori winger to the ball and scoring a good try. Milligan converted from a difficult angle, and Celts led 13—nil, within 20 minutes of the kick-off. The Maoris had a let-off five or six minutes later, when three of them ran together to take a high punt, and all changed their minds at the last moment. The ball bounced high, and Aircy (Celtic) picked it out of t lie air and went for the line with an open field. He was collared from behind, however, and brought down a few feel from the goal-line, where he passed forward to P. McKinley. The latter touched the hull down, but was called back for a scrum. The Maoris forced the ball immediately a Rewards and gained a useful respite. For the rest of the first half the score remained unchanged, but the play was full of interest, and the game went Irom end to end of the field ill quick succession. The pace was on all the time, and just before the interval the Y.M.P. forwards got going in great style, carrying

play to the Celtic end, and making a score seem imminent. The whistle interrupted their offensive at ail interesting stage. MUItLAN 1) SCORES A TRY Play went on in the second half at much the same pace, with Celtic using their condition in an effort to run their opponents off their legs. In this they did not have much success, though they wore a shade bister than the Maoris in almost every position. On one occasion, for instance, the Maori backs got a line opening, and sent Rodgers, their right wing, away from near midfield, with only tlic fullback to pass, lie kicked over Mewson’s head, but in a race to retrieve the ball was beaten handsomely by Carrington. whose speed has seldom been better than at present. The big Celtic forward sent tlio game back down the field with a long kick, and soon Celtic were pressing in the Maori cud. There ■Milligan took a long kick at goal, the Til'd] bouncing bark from the liar and the Maoris clearing with some trouble. Kaua, though handicapped by a had leg, was the bulwark of the Maori defence, and played solidly without showing brilliance. A popular score was registered about luilf-way through the second portion of the game, when Murlami took advantage of :> had error on the part, of tlm Y.M.P. fullback, a newcomer to Ilia I position. The Cells were attacking, and bad worked a good passing movement which the Maori right-winger and Kami checked just inside the 25vds. line. Kami secur ed the ball, and finding himself too close ly pressed to got a good kick away, liepassed hack to the fullback. The latter passed the ball into Murland’s bands, and the veteran Celtic winger galloped over for a try under the posts. Milligan had no trouble in goaling the kick, and Celtic led 18—nil. From that stage onward it was obvious that the Maori team had very little chance of snatching a victory, and the speed of the game slackened a little, though there wore frequent rallies, and more than once the respective goal lines had close calls. Where the Celts shone was in their steady following-up of every advantage, and the visits of their opnonents to Celtic territory were usually short-lived. Three minutes before “noside.” the last points of the. game were added,' when Airey goalcd a drop-kick from pear'the Maori 215vds.. line, bringing the sc'dr'c to : Celtic 22. Y:M.P. nil. The game was refereed bv Dir. E. Corbett. H. 5.0.8. BEAT OLD BOYS SOLID FORWARD GAME The H. 5.0.8. seniors gained their second win at the expense of Old Boys, who were unfortunate in going down by a margin of only three points, the final score 'being 11 to 8. » Old Boys held the advantage for the greater 'part of the game, in which the forwards of both sides did a lot of solid work. It was only occasionally that the backs got their chance to open up the game, and in this respect Old Boys showed superiority, the H. 5.0.8. hacks failing to make use of the open style of play until the latter half of.the second spell. The Old Boys’ line kicking often gained useful results, but the 11.5.0.8. kicking lacked judgment throughout, although the defence was sound. Both in the first ainl second spells, Old Boys had the territorial advantage. H. 5.0.8. snapped on a try in the first minute of the game, and held the lead until the final minute before the interval, when Old Boys scored ah. unconverted try, after battling for it. a long time. H. 5.0.8. gained the lead a few minutes after resumption with ii 'penalty goal, and some time later surprised Old Boys by breaking away after a long period of defence to score a converted try. The Old Boys’ converted try came just before' the final Whistle. 'The H. 5.0.8. performance was an improvement on it lie previous week, particularly among the forwards, but the hacks were only getting into their stride in the concluding stages. Old Boys showed more enterprise than their opponents, but the forwards did not have quite enough weight in the heavy work when in a, scoring position. H. 5.0.8. were quick off the mark, and in a back movement within a minute of the commencement Morrison snapped up the ball for a line run, making ail opening for Sharp to score in the corner. The kick failed. Old Boys went to the attack when Campbell intercepted a pass at half-way, but he lost possession near the corner flag. The Old Boys’ backs began to open up the gamo in good style, but the handling was not always of the best, and several chances were missed. The forwards took charge for a dull period with some hard bollocking work until the ‘Old Boys’ ' backs got to work with occasional bursts of speed. H. 5.0.8. defence was sound, but the line kicking lacked judgment. Towards the end of the spejl, Old Boys suffered l the loss of L. Martin, who sustained an injured leg. Old Roys had had the better of play throughout the spell, but were unable to score until Mclntyre snapped the ball up just inside tlio 11.5.0.8. 25 and •punted it across the goal lino. Moorhead and Thomas followed up, tho former, together with H. 5.0.8. defenders, making an unsuccessful dive at the ball, but Thomas touched down to even tho scores. The kick failed. Half-time was called immediately after. Old Boys pressed after the resumption, and Gardner took a “pot” at goal, missing narrowly. 1L5.0.8. then set up a determined attack, and Haisman made a smart breakaway, and a few minutes later Grant nearly got over for a try. A free kick was awarded to H. 5.0.8. immediately after, and Melvin goaled from a difficult, angle, putting his team in the lead, 6-3. H. 5.0.8. kept on tho aggressive, their backs , making the first real attempt during tho match to adopt the open stylo of play, the best effort breaking down almost on the goal line. Campbell put Old Boys on the attack with a good kick which found the line in tlio H. 5.0.8. 25, and a hectic few minutes ended only with a, free kick to the defenders. ’ Old Bovs returned to tho H. 5.0.8. 25, and tho two packs battled hard, tho hall going down time after time only a few inches from the goal line. The pressure was gradually relieved for H. 5.0.8. by uint of hard battling by the forwards, and play was forced back to mid-field, where Grant broke away to run without opposition, scoring beneath the posts', this being tho first time for about, u quarter of an hour that play had penetrated the Old Bovs’ half. Melvin converted, making the score H. 5.0.8. 11, Old Bovs o. The game now became more open,

both sets of backs tossing the ball about in good style. Old Boys’ backs took play to the H. 5.0.8. 25, where Moorhead smothered a clearing kick, and got over, Bow converting, leaving tho score H. 5.0.8. 11. Old Boys 8. Time was called a little later without any further score. Mr. Hunter was the referee.